New Delhi: With only 44 seats, the Indian National Congress is 11 seats short of the minimum required to sit in the Opposition benches in the house of 543 MPs.

However, its well-known leader, Digvijay Singh, has demanded that the Parliamentary laws on 10 per cent seats to be the Opposition be changed such that the Congress can officially oppose the Narendra Modi-led NDA government which has a 300+ strong contingent in the Lok Sabha.

Mr. Singh on Saturday told the media, â€œTo hold the LoP (Leader of the Opposition) post, 55 seats are needed. So the law has to be amended.â€

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu did not sound to enthusiastic about changing the laws. He put the ball in the Speakerâ€™s court stating, â€œThat is not my domain. That is the Speakerâ€™s domain.â€

The Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, is a seasoned BJP Parliamentarian and reports suggested that she may not rule in favour of the Congress even as its appointed leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge met the Ms Mahajan on Thursday with a request to allow the UPA sit in the Opposition benches on the grounds that the alliance had been before the General Elections.

Ms Mahajan is expected to go by the book and also the 1984 precedence when Rajiv Gandhi won a landslide election and there was none to sit in the Opposition.

Ms Mahajan too steered clear of the issue of grant of Leader of Opposition status in the House to the Congress.

"The meeting of leaders of political parties was convened to discuss the business of the House," was the refrain of the Speaker after the luncheon meeting to repeated questions on what was her decision on the issue.

The Speaker had earlier said she will take a decision on the issue before the budget session after consulting constitutional experts and "experienced" persons.

Mr. Kharge merely said that the s meeting was to discuss the issue to be raised during budget sesssion.

He added that people have not granted the numbers to the Congress to get that status and said the rules have been framed in 1977 and would be followed. He also cited the example of 1984 when the TDP was not accorded the status.
On Friday, Congress appeared to have decided to raise the pitch in its demand for being accorded the status for its nominee in the Lok Sabha making it clear that the Speaker has no arbitrary powers.

Insisting that the powers of the Speaker are "neither arbitrary, nor unbridled or unilateral" on deciding the issue, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said the post of the Leader of the Opposition is a "constitutional right" of Congress as the biggest party in the opposition as also the biggest pre-poll alliance.

I presume for a Political Party that claims to be the sole crusader for India's independence and inheritor of India, apart from having ruled over the major part of the 65 years of independent India, the ignominy to have been reduced to a 'political organisation' and not even qualifying to be a 'political party' , is too bitter a pill to swallow to assuage its ego and political arrogance.

Therefore, this desperate last fling at political self respect of demanding without precedence or law, the position of the Leader of the Opposition.

They forget that during their time, when other political parties did not have 10% members of the House, they did not allow any Party to have a Leader of the Opposition.

This is typical Congress arrogance of thinking they own the country and their desires and diktats are the law.

Sonia and Rahul Gandhi did not rise up to b the congress nominee for LOP for this reason. To be denied the status.
Now the party gears up it legal machinery to fight for a cause they themselves abused on so many occasions. I doubt the judiciary will want to interfere in executive business lest they open its owns doors to reforms it does not want.

If thereâ€™s outrage today in the Congress over the silence on granting its leader the status of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, the same party, when it had 415 MPs in the House, denied that very status to the party which came in second.

In 1984, the last time a single party secured a majority in Lok Sabha, the Congress had 415 MPs. The newly formed BJP was down to two MPs. It was another newly formed party, the Telugu Desam Party, which came in second with 30 MPs.

The Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, which still forms the basis for recognition of the Leader of Opposition and provides for benefits and status, had been enacted in 1977 but no Leader of Opposition was appointed in 1984. P Upendra, the leader of the TDP in Lok Sabha who later went on to become a central minister, was never appointed Leader of Opposition. The Speaker was Congress veteran Balram Jakhar. Contacted by The Sunday Express, he said he couldnâ€™t recall â€œany trouble or issue over this matter, and whatever it was, must be a matter of recordâ€.

Subhash Kashyap, then secretary-general of Lok Sabha, recalls it clearly: â€œIt would be a betrayal of confidences of several people, some of whom are now dead, but there were goings-on in the Speakerâ€™s chambers, when three people from the TDP walked in and asked for the post.â€

â€œThey were told that it would not be possible as we operated on precedents in the House of Commons and that G V Mavalankar, Indiaâ€™s first Speaker, had on the same basis of too-small-an-Opposition established such a precedent that Lok Sabha had not designated a Leader of Opposition till 1969.â€

â€œThere was no fuss, no demand, nothing. They went away and P Upendra became leader of the parliamentary group and parliamentary party. He was accorded privileges and protocol, but never designated as Leader of Opposition,â€

Kashyap said. With the start of the coalition era in 1989, things became complicated and the two-party House of Commons rule too simple to take recourse to because very often the single-largest parties were sitting in Opposition during the 1990s.

In 1989, Rajiv Gandhiâ€™s Congress party emerged as the single-largest with 195 members and he was recognised as Leader of Opposition. But after the BJP withdrew support to the National Front and Chandrashekhar was sworn in as Prime Minister â€” with outside support of the Congress, and deemed totally dependent on it â€” the BJPâ€™s appeal to get the post of Leader of Opposition was acceded to and the Congress was no longer seen as a party in Opposition. So, L K Advani was recognised as Leader of Opposition effective December 24, 1990.

The 1977 Act says nothing on any criterion that must be used to recognise an Opposition. But those supportive of the BJP view that the Congress does not make the cut now are citing directions by Speakers who have made â€œ10 per cent of the strength of the House ruleâ€, and invoking the law for facilities to be granted to parliamentary party leaders and whips.

The Leaders and Chief Whips of Recognised Parties and Groups in Parliament (Facilities) Act 1988, after an amendment in 2000, recognises a parliamentary â€˜groupâ€™ as one which has members between 30 and 54 but a â€˜partyâ€™ as one with at least 55 members.

Former Law Minister Salman Khursheed says â€œthere is little that anyone gains by holding back the Leader of Opposition recognition. It sends out negative signals about intent, spirit of cooperation and how Parliament must function. Also, with appointments dependent on there being a Leader of Opposition, legal impediments could be created.â€ Jakhar says â€œitâ€™s about a big heart and this is a small thing which has implications. Why should the Indian Parliament not have a Leader of Opposition?â€

The Congress is planning to submit a formal representation to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to assert the â€œlegitimacyâ€ of its claim to the post of Leader of Opposition, both as the party with the most members in the House after the BJP, and as the leader of the largest pre-poll alliance after the NDA.

Sources said the Congress move follows fears in the party that the Speaker is leaning towards denying the status of LoP to it. The party has just 44 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha.

The decision of the Speaker is crucial also because the LoP is part of the panel that selects the Lokpal, and the head and members of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the Central Information Commission (CIC).

In its planned eight-page representation addressed to the Speaker, the Congress has said that even without its allies, it is entitled to the post. It has cited The Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977, which it says grants statutory recognition to the post of LoP, and mandates the creation of such a post.

Section 2 of the Act, the party will argue, says the â€œLeader of Opposition in relation to either House of Parliament is defined as a member of the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha, who is the Leader of the party in opposition to the Government having the greatest numerical strengthâ€.

The section does not specify any other condition, the Congress will tell the Speaker in its representation. The LoP, the representation will say, is an â€œessential part of our Parliamentary fabricâ€ and not a matter of â€œsubjective discretionâ€. The specification of a quorum of 10 per cent to be recognized as a political party (under the Directions by the Speaker under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha) does not hold, since the 1977 law cannot be superseded, and the rules are subordinate to the legislation under which they are framed, it will argue.]

According to the Congress, even if the 10 per cent rule were to be followed, the party, along with its pre-poll allies, satisfies the requirement with a combined strength of 60 seats. The Congress has mentioned Sharad Pawarâ€™s NCP (6 seats), Lalu Prasadâ€™s RJD (4), Indian Union Muslim League (2), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (2), Kerala Congress (M) (1) and the breakaway faction of RSP (1) as pre-poll allies.

The petition, which is ready, also argues that the BJP, which is in power, got only 31 per cent of votes polled. It claims that the Speaker does not have the power to not recognise as LoP anyone who meets the requirements under the 1977 Act, and that the question of the Speakerâ€™s discretion arises only when two or more parties have the same numerical strength.

How come the Congress forgot the Congress has said that even without its allies, others were entitled to the post.And could have cited The Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977, which it says grants statutory recognition to the post of LoP, and mandates the creation of such a post.?

Above all this Diggi chacha and abhishek manu singhvi are shouting at BJP spokespersons and are saying that BJP is being very unfair to congress and this prashant bhushan is another idiot who is questioning the law.....

Congress from a ruling party has been reduced to just pockets of power. This mandate is clearly shows that the people of the country have rejected the Congress party from the centre. They should rather give AIADMK or TMC the LOP status as they have atleast got a thumping majority of seats from their respective states. I would preferably want AIADMK or TMC to have a LOP status as they represent states or region where BJP does not have enough representation. These regions need to be represented strongly at the centre by the lead opposition party.

New Delhi: In order to leave no stone unturned to get the post of Lok Sabha's Leader of Opposition for her party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi met President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday.

The UPA chairperson had yesterday raised a strong pitch against the silence of Narendra Modi-led NDA government on the subject.

She had also held a meeting with party MPs in Lok Sabha yesterday. The meeting was held after UPA MPs decided to write to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan seeking an immediate decision on the issue.

Party spokesperson Anand Sharma had yesterday said that the letter is ready and will be sent to the Speaker after all UPA MPs had signed it.

Ahead of the Union Budget 2014, Gandhi has maintained throughout that her party was the single largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha and hence was entitled for the post of the Leader of Opposition in the Lower House.

Reacting sharply over no clarity of Congress getting the LoP status in Lok Sabha, senior leader Kamal Nath had indicated that the party could go to court if Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's decision went against it.

As per reports, there were indications that the government may not give the LoP post to Congress in keeping with the Mavalankar formula according to which it was required for the largest Opposition party to acquire at least 10 percent of seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

According to formula, the post of LoP can be given to the party which has at least 55 seats and Congress has got only 44 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls which is 11 short of that number.